Using Market Access Funds (MAP), the U.S. Grains Council has taken advantage of a market opportunity and aggressively promoted U.S. corn to major grain importers in Algeria.
For the second consecutive year, the Council hosted a workshop in Algiers to promote U.S. corn. Several Algerian importers were also invited to attend the Regional U.S. Corn Crop Quality Report Conference organized by the Council in Casablanca. The Council has also hosted an Algerian trade team to the United States to participate in a grain buyers training course, visit farms and meet with corn growers’ associations in Ohio.
As a result of these promotion efforts, Algerian importers began to return to buying U.S. corn in 2016, importing approximately 670,000 metric tons of U.S. corn in calendar year 2016, valued at $117 million. This is almost a threefold increase of U.S. corn exports to Algeria from calendar year 2015 (238,000 metric tons) and nine times the level of U.S. corn (76,000 tons) imported in 2014.
The Council invested $150,000 of MAP funds into its Algerian marketing, generating a return on investment (ROI) of $780 for every $1 of MAP funds invested.